The Beginning of #TwinsSquared

Over the festive season we got to have an epic opportunity to spend time with another set of twins. You can read our first time hanging with twins here: A Dream for a Day

A close mutual friend dubbed this holiday time as #TwinsSquared. 

(If you type this into Instagram you can see some of our pictures together, or like us on Facebook)

Spending time together we were able to experience what it was like to observe a set of twins and not being the ones observed. It was a strange experience for us; we noticed allot of the same habits.

As sweet as a LEMON

Over time we have had so many people ask us the question "How do you get on so well?"
It helps when you have a Portuguese mother who will not let her family fall apart because one of us borrowed a shirt without asking.

It also helps when you know each others personalities and how they think and function.
At the tender age of 13 we were brought into the world of LEMON Leadership. It changed our lives FOREVER; and in the best way possible (Insert a jingle here)

Who is first born?

From the book: Ibeji - The Cult of Yoruba Twins
Yoruba mother holding her twins.
Town of Share, North Oyo
Photgraph by Deborah Stokes (1980)

In today's topic we want to talk about birth order.
By birth order we are referring to the age old question of "Who is the first born?"
For many years we believed the first born title belongs to the one who entered into the world first; but over the years we have learned that this is not the only belief system.

In Loving Memory

Early this morning our strong and loving uncle was promoted into glory with Jesus.

Those of you who know us, know how much our family is a part of our lives, it is a TwinningIt value. Many have fallen in love with my aunt and uncle as they witnessed such a beautiful and blessed marriage, full of an indescribable love.

Healthy dependency?

You all seemed to love our Portugal supporting pictures
Heres another one from 2010 world cup in SA.
Photography credit: Natalina Alves

Growing up with a twinling and doing most things together can create dependency; which can be a good or bad. Bad in the sense that your identity as a person almost becomes one and you are scared to do things on your own.

But on the flip side you get things done faster, more efficient  and there are two minds giving perspective to a matter; which is good because there is more than one way to look at a situation.  Here is something our Mamacita - a life coach and someone who holds a degree in business leadership and management said:

I thought she was you

The sand dunes in Namibia
Photography credit: Remick Lackey

Hey peeps, so 3 weeks ago there was an outstanding post that my twinnling wrote all by herself and this week i'm doing one too! (Read her post on Sibling Rivalry here; it's definitely worth it)

A few days ago I had been watching a movie with a few friends. Included in this group were another set of twin girls, unfortunately my twinnling wasn't with me.
Well this movie was a good movie, but by the time the end came I was asleep on the couch.

Now before i carry on let me ask you this: Have you ever woken up and not known where you were?

Recognizing Other Twins

Back  in 2010 for the Soccer World Cup in
South Africa. Portugal was playing against Spain.
Photography Credit: Natalina Alves

Once in a while we seem to run into this myth where we as twins are expected to know the difference between other twins, like a twin sixth sense.
(In this case we are talking about identical twins.) The train of thought here is something along the lines of: “you’re one of them - you must know.”

Well slap me a chicken and tell me the truth…

Sharing vs Mine...Who gets it?

An (awesome) package we had to share. #RulesApply

Many individuals have given us an item with the condition or instruction of "Share it between the two of you." or "I'll only give it to you if you share it with your sister." Now to start off, we are so thankful for the gifts or the thought put into what has been given to us.

But in reality, this is quite difficult or should we say a challenge if it is one item to be shared between two. As twins we have shared most things; starting from conception.

Sibling Rivalry

This weeks post is not a "we" post where we write together, today it is just me Evangeline. The older one. The topic is sibling rivalry and how it has effected our relationship.

Being the oldest between the two of us is great, I'm naturally competitive and being number one makes me happy. My independent sister just wants to do her things extremely well, which she does.

I have come to realize that winning in everything is not healthy or good, in fact according to Franklin D. Roosevelt "Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."

Twice As Nice: Tiah and Tarah

Loving Tiah is 60 seconds older than her outspoken twin sister Tarah. Born on the 23 of November these girls share the same date with a patent; which was granted for a process of making color photographs in 1863. When looking at the girls it's difficult to tell them apart; even their father has a challenging time. Is it because the girls have such a close relationship that they resemble each other?.. No, we don't believe so; these girls are identical twins sharing Duplicate DNA.

Twice As Nice: Tina and Tanya

Today's story starts with an unusual occurrence. Identical twins Tina and Tanya were actually once triplets. Unfortunately their sibling did not fully form in the womb and was declared dead at seven months. (Read more about triplets here: Thrice As Nice)


However life was still celebrated on the 10th of May 1994 by the arrival of two beautiful baby girls, Tina showed up first and Tanya punched the clock two minutes later. On this same day the earth experienced an annular solar eclipse and our dearly beloved Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa's first black president; what a day to be brought into this world.

The Ol' switcharoo

Rocking it out in our Spice Girls shoes

We recently read the story of twins Ronald and Donald Anderson whose claim to fame was "One twin does the crime, the other does the time." (Read their story here)

This got us to thinking of the first time we pulled the ol' switcharoo. In second grade we were in separate classes. Evangeline's teacher, who had a reputation of being strict and slightly terrifying, had asked to meet with the both of us during break. We were alarmed! 

Thrice As Nice: Kelly, Michael and Sarah

 Today's Twice As Nice interview has had a take over, meet Kelly; Michael and Sarah. Our first Thrice As Nice post! (Get more info on triplets: Thrice As Nice)

In the month of October 1995 exactly 8 days before most Dutch telephone numbers were changed to 10 digits the triplets were born. Kelly is older than Michael by one minute and Sarah is the youngest by two; they have an older brother Jared who proceeds them by six years.

Thrice As Nice

A few weeks back we did an informative post on the different types of twins. (Duplicate DNA) This week we decided to do a piece on higher orders of multiples, which is three or more. So keep on reading for some fun facts you might not have known. We definitely learned some new things!

Twice As Nice: exclusive interview with our mamacita

This week we at TwinnigIt are so excited to bring you closer to our reality. Today we will be releasing our exclusive interview with our Mamacita!






The very first thing we want to state is that this woman is incredibly wise, she has been such  a solid rock in our family and we are honored to be her daughters as much as she is honored that we are her babies, she still likes to call us that and with her we don't mind. She has been the one that always pushed us to stop arguing and to love one another, that never ever should we allow anger or disagreement to linger between us but rather stand firm in love and unity. We are so incredibly thankful for this.

Twice As Nice: Dan and Joe

 Dan and Joe are identical twins by birth born on the 12^th of February; Dan loves the crazy fact that he and his brother share the same genetic code and emphatically states that he is older by five minutes while Joe humorously acknowledges that Dan has a bigger chin.  

We asked them how we could tell them apart; it’s serious business to make sure you know who is who in the world of TwinningIt. Joe comically mentions his bigger nose is the difference between the two and the detail of Dan sporting a ring on his finger with a beautiful wife by his side.  

Twice As Nice: Luke and Kayleigh

Imaginative Kayleigh and realistic Luke are Fraternal twins (Read more on what that means :Duplicate DNA)
We've asked them to share their TwinningIt stories, we hope you'll have just as much fun reading it as we did!

On the day Angela Kennedy swam world record breaking 50 m butterfly stroke, Luke and Kayleigh were born. Luke is older by 2 minutes and if your a twin you know those 120 seconds make all the difference, although when they were younger Kayleigh admits to always acting like the older sister and having Luke be the younger brother (memory flashback of us too). This month they have celebrated their 21st birthday with a trip to Turkey; a lovely gift from their parents.

Duplicate DNA

Picture from: wileywitch.com

For today’s post we've kept in mind the posts to come. We decided to shed some small light into the differences between identical and fraternal twins. 

There are actually seven, that right seven different kinds of twins, but for today we will stick to identical and fraternal as they are the most common and/or heard of.

For the sake of not have the world record on the longest post, we've tried to keep the explanations and terms as simple as possible. 

As a side note, we will be changing our posting days from Tuesday to Thursday. So keep a look out for this Thursdays post.

(Que drum roll) Let us begin the fascinating trip 

A dream for a day

Photography Credit: Illuminate Photography 

We have a fun story for today. We'll start from the beginning.

It was the school holidays, we were around 11 years old and attending a birthday party.  It was a combination of a pool party and fun time.

The memory is vague on how we actually met at this party but it lands up with us playing over at other identical twins. We were fascinated that they were blond and fair; the opposite of our obvious appearance. We wanted to be friends for life on the basis that we were a set of identical twins! We basically shared the same life right? (Insert a reassuring nod of the head here)

Twice As Nice:Leila and Bella

Lelia is on the left; Bella is on the right. 

Evangeline went to a little's birthday party and there met fraternal twins (different fertilized eggs) who looked remarkably similar which is not the norm. There names are Leila and Bella, Leila being older by 8 minutes.