Family with two sets of twins born on same day celebrate milestone birthdays

An Edmonton family celebrated a unique set of birthdays as two sets of twins, born on the exact same day, five years apart, turned 80 and 85.

On February 3, 1933, on a farm east of Edmonton, near the hamlet of Brosseau, twins Lydia Melnychuk and Peter Kozak were born.

“When we were growing up, we never did things apart. When he was doing things, I had to be there too,” Melnychuk said.

READ MORE: 1 in 48 million: 3 generations of Edmonton family share birthday

Then, five years later on February 3, 1938, twins Victor Kozak and Victoria Burma were born to the same parents.

Throughout the years, the four siblings have made an effort to celebrate together. They estimate they’ve celebrated more than 65 joint birthdays.

“I’d say we were together a lot more than we were apart over the years,” Victor Kozak said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'd say we were together a lot more than we were apart over the years," Victor Kozak said.

“I’m going to be quite frank and honest here, because I always felt like there’s so many of us that the toys had to be a lot smaller,” Peter Kozak joked.

This year, the twins turned 80 and 85, and their extended family threw them a party with about 80 guests.

“I try and play it down. It’s a number, but a substantial number,” Victor Kozak said.

“I don’t feel old, but we’re there I guess.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I don't feel old, but we're there I guess."

At Saturday’s party were two matching cakes for the twins, recreated from a previous birthday.

“We have a picture of them at 20 and 25 and we wanted to do a replica cake and have them cut it the same sort of way and have pictures,” Wendy Forster, Melnychuk’s daughter said. “So you can say ‘This is when they were 20 and this is when they were 80.'”

The twins’ parents were immigrants to Canada from Ukraine. In all, they had 15 kids, including the two sets of twins.

“80 and 85, to have them still here is such a blessing. They all mean so much to each one of us,” Forster said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "80 and 85, to have them still here is such a blessing. They all mean so much to each one of us," Forster said.

This birthday weekend has been a chance for the siblings to reminisce about birthdays of years past.

“Our dad always sent in a greeting over the radio for our birthday. So we’d listen to this greeting and that was like ‘wow,'” Burma said.

“Our parents really felt that it was special having two sets of twins on the same day,” Melnychuk said.

While the four siblings have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of their own, they make an effort to meet up once a week for coffee.

“I’m very thankful that I can still get up every morning and say ‘Thank you Lord, another day,'” Peter Kozak said.