Bed Wars

We're going through what you might call a "phase" in our house.  At least I hope it's a phase.  If this is the new normal, please shoot me right now.

Simply put, our kids hate their beds.  And bedtime.  And anything to do with their beds or bedtime.

UGH!

Granted, we've been all out of routine what with vacations, summertime, late nights, etc.  But this is just crazy.

It begins around 8p.m. each night.  Stories told, teeth brushed, prayers said, hugs and kisses given, lights out.

THEN... mayhem.

Crying from every corner of the house.  Kate runs out 50 times saying she's scared.  Truth be told she has had some nightmares lately, so we're sympathetic... to a point.

Dylan... well, we don't know what's up with him.

The other night he discovered how to climb over his door gate.  So up went his crib wall again.  He climbed over that too.  Meanwhile Kate is hysterically crying over something or another, which wakes Blake up and puts Mike and me on edge.  Chaos I tell you.

After hours of this nonsense the other night, Mike gathered us all in Blake's room, said a special prayer, blessing our house so it would be safe and comfortable.  It worked on the kids for a little bit.

But they still ended up sleeping on our floor.

 Mike thinks we should save money on rent by downsizing to a one-bedroom since we're all sharing a room anyway.

I think it's kind of sweet.  I mean, how many more years are they going to want to be this close to us?

I just wish we could forgo the hours of crying, whining, screaming, etc.

Any suggestions???