Thoughtful Thursday: Getting Kids to Sleep

Not the girls' room..but cute :)

I have a secret to share with you...and a pet peeve.  My daughters don't sleep.  Ok, they sleep when it's really, really late...into the late morning.  But, they just don't like going to bed.  What's the secret, you ask?  I don't like going to bed, either. 

Since school began for the girls, they have to get up much earlier than normal.  This results in me gently saying, "Wake up for school," to tickling, to throwing the covers back, to pulling their warm bodies toward the cool edge of the bed, to bouncing the bed, to finally yelling, "GET UP!  YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

Now, I know all you homeschool moms don't have quite the same issue {luckies}, but my question for today is: how do you get kids to sleep?!  And then how do you get them up in time in the morning? 

These are the issues I'm facing:

• We have a small house, so the girls share one bedroom
• We have small rooms, so the girls share a double bed
• They talk, tickle, fight, and cry for at least an hour after I put them to bed
• If I put them to bed earlier {no matter how early they got up that morning}, they talk, tickle, fight, and cry for more than an hour after I put them to bed

This is what I've tried:

• Placing a body pillow between them.  Result:  Pillow is pushed/kicked/folded/climbed on
• Putting the girls to bed horizontally instead of vertically.  Result:  They complain because their legs now hang off the bed.
• Removing stuffed animals that they sleep with.  Result:  They never sleep with anything and are no longer allowed to sleep with anything.

Here is our routine:

• Restroom trip
• Goodnight kisses for Daddy
• Prayer
• Goodnight kisses for Mommy
• Bible audio plays on my iPod (and yes, I've explicitly warned them not to talk over God.  It works to start with...)
• Continual warning outside their door to be quiet
• Opening door, walking over to bed, and telling them to be quiet
• Threatening them with anything I can possibly hold over their head {figuratively} to entice them to listen

I'd like my bloodpressure to stay down tomorrow night, so have any thoughts, tricks, or tips? 

For more information on kids and sleep, I found this NY Magazine article really interesting.