London, Jan ary 12: Identical twin sisters, who went on to marry identical twin brothers and now have five children between them, have opened up about their unusual family set-up.

When identical twin sisters Darlene and Diane Nettemeier went to a twins' festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, one man stood out by himself amongst the sea of twins the Daily Mail reported.

Tall, dark and handsome Mark Sanders caught their eye, but there was only one of him and two of them, but luckily for them, Sanders was also a twin, and he called his identical brother, Craig, down from their hotel room to meet the blondes.

Soon afterwards, the pairs of twins fell in love, got married, and then went on to produce another set of identical twins.

Now the Sanders family - Craig and Diane, and Mark and Darlene - live in houses next door to each other in Texas.

Craig said that he felt an instant attraction to just one of the blonde twins - Darlene - despite them looking the same.

After meeting in 1998, the boys went to visit the girls at their home in St. Louis, Missouri, and took them on a double date to a baseball game.

The two couples hit it off, got engaged on the same day, and decided to share a wedding.

The families built their houses on adjoining plots and took out the fence between the two to create one enormous garden that they could all share.

When Diane and Craig produced identical twin sons in 2001, they beat million-to-one odds to do so.

Now they have neighbouring houses and the five children - including Diane and Craig's identical 12-year-old sons Colby and Brady.

However, Craig said that despite all the unusual coincidences, they see themselves as "just two normal families who happen to be close to one another." (ANI)