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Hi Louise, let me give you my experience as a WL5 owner.  Am a lone parent (now) with a 5 yr old boy.  I pitch it solo (am petite and 5'4"), its manageable, but tedious and I am fairly tired after camping and de-camping each time.  And cranky too!

We camp abroad annually and locally regularly.  I love the space the WL5 provides us, especially the living area ... I have an area set up along one side of the tent with a table-top fridge, shelving unit for storage (a canvas thing on a metal frame, from IKEA), a kitchen worktable with food storage under it, camping-loo, etc In good weather the rest of the living area is used mainly in the evening only, but trust me when the weather is bad outside day-time its wonderful to be able to function properly within the tent and do all the living inside it (plenty of room for the fold-out table+4 chairs, camping chairs, tables for games / lights / books, etc.  It would be easy to live in this tent for a long period of time for the two of us.  Given that you camp with 2 dogs and also sometimes with 2 children, I would think that you would need the WL7 in my opinion.  Extra children means extra bedding, extra luggage, their games / entertainment / etc ... Same for the dogs ... two dog beds I'd guess?

As for the bedrooms: last year we slept on SIMS on the ground in the larger bedroom pod and used the smaller pod for storage.  This year we had bought Outwell Posadas single beds which (since they are raised off the floor and thus the sloping walls of the tent impact them) we could no longer use the bedrooms in the normal way otherwise the beds would be sticking out into the living area! .... what we now do is zip down the divider between the two pods and we have created this into one very large bedroom with the bedrooms going across-wise on both pods with a side table between our beds .... it really looks great and feels just like a proper bedroom (sort of!). 

I suppose if I were you I'd be weighing up how often you will be camping as 2+2 kids; if its not often then perhaps the WL5 is sufficient (even with dogs); but if your dogs are big and your step children will camp regularly with you then I'd go for the WL7 and you'll be glad you have such lovely space all around you.

Much and all as I love the WL, its too big / cumbersome and takes too long to put up for short stays, so I now only use it for long trips, and I have since bought a little weekender.  I love the WL though a lot ... whichever you go for, you'll be pleased with the tent.  Good luck,

Humbird