Shiplap all around...it's Joanna Gaines' birthday!
The pregnant Fixer Upper star and home décor extraordinaire turns 40 years old today and we want to show her some love (and maybe pick her brain on ideas on how to revamp our homes at the same time). Since she lives in Waco, TX, we guess we'll have to settle for reading through some of her best advice on just about everything.
In honor of Gaines' milestone birthday—which comes just a few weeks after the final episode of her HGTV show with her husband Chip Gaines aired—we've rounded up her sweetest quotes about family and marriage because, like home decorating, Gaines is pretty good at life and love.
When she's not redecorating someone's home, gardening in her amazing backyard or fixing things at the Silos (or one of the family's many other businesses), Gaines is at home with her four kids (soon to be five!) and loving husband Chip, and let's face it their lives are pretty perfect.
Don't believe us? Take it from the birthday girl herself and scroll through Gaines' best and brightest quotes about the things that matter in life.
In 2016, Gaines shared a sweet image of her daughter Emmie sitting by her window starring at butterflies and a hummingbird, which comes every morning to a bush that she planted when the family was renovating the farmhouse. It was then that she realized that even if you plant something and leave it to itself, it will come back around, which is a lot like parenting.
"You sow seeds early on and work hard to be intentional and then over time you move on to new lessons and challenges. Then one day you look up and the seeds you planted in your little children's hearts are now in full bloom," she wrote. "Be encouraged today to keep pressing in and tending to their hearts. It will be worth it."
While some couples need their space, the dynamic duo that brought you Magnolia Homes enjoys spending as much time together as possible and it's what makes their romance work. In an excerpt from their biography The Magnolia Story from 2016 Gaines revealed the key to their working relationship and personal relationship and it's not space.
"One pretty amazing thing we learned early on was that the more time we spent together, the better our relationship was. I think a lot of couples feel the need to get away from each other now and then, to take little breaks, and they come back after a girls' weekend or a guys' fishing trip or something all refreshed and happy to reconnect because they missed each other," she wrote.
"We were just the opposite and still are. We seem to give each other energy. We function better together than we do apart, and I don't think either one of us has ever felt the urge to say, 'I need a break from you,'" she continued. "Don't get me wrong, we've certainly had our share of disappointments and arguments, but we just always wanted to tackle our issues together."
Valentine's Day might be a holiday for lovers and smitten couples, but when it comes to the Gaines family, it's a holiday for all. In fact, the matriarch of the family created a new tradition for the love holiday and we might have to steal it.
"We've started this new tradition over the past couple of years where Valentine's is really a family affair, so all the kids get dressed in their finest...and we cook a really big meal," she revealed in the past.
If you've ever watched Fixer Upper you know that Chip is a total goofball and it's that child-at-heart spirit that his wife can't help but love and what his children connect with most. "I've always admired how he plays pretend with the kids and connects with them in that way. And just like he draws me out, he's always done the same with them," Gaines wrote on the Magnolia blog in 2016. "Whatever they're passionate about, he's right there at their side, encouraging them to follow their dreams. With our boys, it's baseball. With our girls, it's trips to the bookstore," she continued. "Just the other day, the girls came home beaming from a daddy daughter date to the bookstore. They felt so loved and had so much fun just hanging out with dad. It's the little things like this that make Chip a great dad." Seriously these two are so cute together.
As the mom of four children—and another on the way—Gaines has always been honest that raising a family is hard, even if it is a blessing to be with your kiddos. It's her honesty that makes us love her even more. "Motherhood can be difficult. It's not an instant gratification thing all the time. When your kiddos are just babies and you're changing diapers or listening to whining constantly, it can feel overwhelming," Gaines admitted in a Magnolia blog post a few years ago. "But I want to encourage you, because one day you'll be sitting around a table for your birthday breakfast and you'll realize that their little hearts are thankful for you. And they do notice things like mom's homemade meals."
When it comes to her family life, Gaines made a decision long ago—which she shared on her blog in 2011—that she wanted to be a mom that thrives and doesn't just survives the every day. "I don't want to be the mom that just goes through the day and survives it," she wrote. "I want to truly know that everyday is a gift and that I only have these little ducklings for so long and then they are off."
Gaines puts her heart into everything, which is clear by all of the amazing businesses she's helped create over the years, her most recent being Magnolia Table. But her passion for things doesn't end there. The mother of four loves tradition and has tried to install a sense of it within her little ones.
"This family tree gets me every time. Emmie asked why I always get so sad when we put this tree up and I told her it's a good kinda sad," Gaines captioned a sweet Christmas post last year. "I explained these memories on this tree are so sweet and time just goes by so fast. This tree is full of firsts for each of us, many meaningful ornaments, and lots of handmade who knows what. It's my favorite and I treasure this time every year."
How do you know when you're with the right person? According to Gaines, she new she was going to be with Chip because she could trust him early on and that trust has lasted them nearly 15 years so far. "At first, I couldn't believe how kind Chip was—he had kind eyes, and made me laugh a lot," she told PopSugar. "I knew he was the one because I knew I could trust him."
Happy birthday Mama Gaines, go eat some cake and hangout at the Silos for us!