Chip and Joanna Gaines Reflect on Raising Four Teenagers and a 5-Year-Old: 'It's Just a Sweet Season'

The couple celebrates 20 years of marriage and being in business together amid their oldest child's first year of college

Chip and Joanna Gaines are looking back at 20 years of their family.

Reflecting on this moment in their relationship and their business partnership, the couple sat down with Jenna Bush Hager and her twin sister Barbara Pierce Bush in Texas to talk family and their Magnolia empire.

When Bush Hager, 41, asked what it's like for the family to have five kids ranging from ages 5 to 18, Joanna noted that bunch includes "four teenagers!"

"I know that I’m their mother but they just feel like just your friends," Joanna said of Crew, 5, Emmie, 13, Duke, 15, Ella, 16, and Drake, 18.

"It's just a sweet season where the older they get, just the connection that’s there. Like, I want to hang out with them," she laughed. "And then the 5-year-old, that just helps with perspective. Like, hold on tight. They grow up really fast."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Related: Joanna Gaines Goes Ghost-Busting on Halloween as She Celebrates with 5-Year-Old Son Crew

The mom also opened up about the "interesting dynamic this year," with their oldest off at college.

When Bush Hager asked if they cried, Joanna said, "I did," while Chip joked, "I would have cried if the boy stayed any longer."

"I showed some clips of y’all’s college experience and I was like, 'If you’re not like these girls, boy, don’t even come home,'" he laughed.

In April, Joanna shared photos of her family vacation to South Korea. Posting an Instagram Reel, the Magnolia mogul's older set of kids are pictured with their cousins, enjoying cafés and shopping as they explored Seoul, where Joanna's mom was born and raised.

"These little quarter-Korean kids love all the Korean soups. My mom fed this to them when they were babies so they are familiar w all the flavors," Joanna noted in a photo where Crew happily enjoyed a bowl of soup.

"For years, my mother has talked about taking her three daughters to Seoul, Korea when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. And for years, that's all it was—a dream we'd talk about in that 'maybe, someday' way we all do when something feels just a little out of reach."

"But this year, we decided to finally book it, and we convinced 24 members of our family to come with us to visit the place where my mom grew up," the Fixer Upper: Welcome Home star wrote in the caption.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.