Routines are a good thing. I’m sure that some could say that they can make life monotonous and boring, but having routines with children makes for a happy home. Plus, it makes it easier for both Rachel and I to put the kids to bed when the other one is not home. For example, tonight Rachel was at an relief society meeting. At 8:00 I say it’s time to read scriptures. We then read a verse (that’s about as long as we can hold the kids attention span), then we write in our gratitude journal. After writing in the gratitude journal we have family prayer. We’ve started taking turns – whoever says the morning family prayer, will also say the evening family prayer. After we say prayers, we brush our teeth. After brushing our teeth we read a book. After reading a book, the kids say their personal prayers. Then they go to bed. If we ever try to disrupt the order of things the kids will generally kid out of bed and complain about it. So we try our best to stick to the routine and things run smoothly.