Routines...love them or hate them?

This poster sums up our kids nightly routine...and mine for that matter....the only thing that changes is maybe bath before dinner.  Our family  are creatures of habit and love routine. 

It started back when our first daughter was young and it dawned on us that she was much happier following a daily plan.  Once we leave the house for holiday though I do like to ad lib it and go with the flow but bedtime is 7pm sometimes earlier if it's been a big day.

I have just turned a corner in our daily routine, my youngest has dropped the 2nd sleep and moved onto 1 sleep a day...YAH, high five!! This is such a milestone for me, and have been dreaming of this to happen, well, since she was born. 1 sleep always = 1 big sleep...give or take.

My kids have been sent to test me....both CHRONIC captnappers when they were first born and  it was not until they were around 8 months they could crawl around, exhaust themselves and go past that magic 40 min barrier.  Did my head in let me tell you, and I cried for days when I found out my second princess didn't know how to sleep through cycles.  It was a matter of acceptance though, as there really is no answer, it's just something they have to work out for themselves (and I am so not into letting them cry it out, no sirree)

They are awesome sleepers now, so persistence has paid dividends," just stick with routine, just stick with routine" is what I used to tell myself, then one day it just went*click* and fell into place.

Kids.....it's all about the sleep...

Does this sound similar to your nightly routine?  What do you do differently?