We're in an interesting phase with the ages of our kids - like we are with most phases since our kids are so spread apart - but we have 1 kid who is capable of doing everything independently and another who can't do anything!
During the school year, my goal is to have Paige in bed between 7:00 and 7:30, Drew in bed between 7:30 and 8:00, and Trent reading in his room around 8:30. The summer is a lot more relaxed, but I would say on average it's about an hour later in the summer.
After dinner we start our bedtime routine with some assortment of children showering/bathing - they may not all be bathing but usually Paige does because she loves to take bubble baths! We aim for getting clean every other night on average. Trent showers by himself and the girls usually bathe or shower together in our bathroom. This is where I struggle - I want to also do some family clean-up time after dinner but haven't figured out how to fit that in there too...but it sure would help in my constant quest to keep the house picked up.
At this point, we've got everybody clean {or we skipped getting clean}, and Brent and I are dividing and conquering to get the girls in pjs, teeth brushed, etc. while Trent is usually trying to eat his second dinner. I also try to clean up the kitchen somewhere along the way, so I usually ask Brent to do the pjs/teeth while I clean up.
Now if I'm home, Paige loses her mind if I don't put her to bed. If I'm gone, she's happy as a clam to let Brent or anyone else put her to bed. But if I'm home - which I am 97% of the time - this one's on me. So Paige and I read a couple of books, we sing a couple of songs and in bed she goes. We have some quirks here - she sits in the rocking chair while I sit on the foot stool to read, she has to turn on the fan/off the light, we have to get 1 particular blanket to cover up with while we sing. Once she gets in her bed, she has to be covered up with 4 blankets. Yes, 4. Her bed is FULL of babies and toys, I sometimes wonder how she is comfortable!
Sometimes Brent puts Drew to bed, and that consists of some sort of silliness - he flies her around like an airplane doing all sorts of stunts quite often. {one of my personal favorites is when he turns the sink on and puts her feet in the water because it's raining on the plane}. If I put her to bed, we snuggle and read. Right now she's very into the Magic Treehouse books. We take turns reading, and she's doing so good! We snuggle after reading for a minute, and then I leave.
Trent will either read to himself, listen to an audiobook we've downloaded from the library, or he and I will read Harry Potter together. We're currently in book 6! For the kid that used to give us SO much grief at bedtime, we will just say 'Go to bed.' and he goes. It's amazing!
We've worked really hard to have the kids sleeping independently, staying in their beds, and not needing a lot of help falling asleep. It's TOUGH at times, but it's so worth it! I dread transitioning Paige out of her crib, because that's always a tough transition, but I know we'll survive.
And that's our bedtime routine!
