Waking up to a silent house is never possible for senior Aundrea Vannier. With seven siblings and living with four of them, life is never boring for the Vannier household.

Aundrea lives with her dad and stepmother along with Hope, 3, Ava, 6, Ian, 7 and Callie, 18. Her twin brothers, Mason and Ty, 12, live with her mom and stepfather in Iowa and her older sister, Ashley, 29, lives with her husband and two children in Iowa as well.

As with any family, Aundrea’s siblings can become annoying.

“They are all annoying, but it depends on which one is bugging me at the moment,” Aundrea said. “They all annoy me in their own way, but I can’t stay mad at them.”

When arguments begin, Aundrea finds a simple way to cope.

“I usually try to pretend nothing is wrong,” Aundrea said. “When I get away from everybody I just relax and forget. We argue every day, but we have few big blowout fights. We try to stay out of everyone’s ways.”

In big families, siblings bring some positives and negatives.

“The good thing about a big family is that each person has their own personality. As much as you don’t get along, you still love them no matter what,” Aundrea said. “The not so good thing is that they are a lot to clean up after. With so many siblings it is so hard to just deal with them at once.”

Aundrea does not wish to have as many kids as her parents have had.

“I would definitely not want to have as many kids,” Aundrea said. “I have helped out with [the kids] and I just don’t want to have that many. Also I wish my other siblings were closer so I could see them.”

While Aundrea helps out with her siblings, her family’s holiday traditions are not any different than families with fewer children.

“When other family members come in for the holidays, things get really busy,” Aundrea said. “There is a lot of cooking going on, lots of games and laughter. Holidays are a good time.”

Aundrea gives some insight on having a bigger family versus having a smaller family.

“It’s hard for people with smaller families to understand how difficult it is to deal with younger siblings,” Aundrea said. “With bigger families you usually have to help out more and with smaller families there is a lot less that you have to do.”

With all of the difficulties, Aundrea appreciates her large family size.

“Overall, I would say that, yeah, it’s good to have a big family,” Aundrea said. “It can be frustrating at times, but its good that you have people you can relate to. Also, doing a lot of the little things together and watching little kids grow up is so much fun.”