I need some order!!

Eeegads! I hate bedtime!
I'm really struggling to hold it all together and not say or do something I'll regret while my children push me closer and closer to the brink of insanity! I know every parent deals with this, and it happens every night! but somethings gotta give! I wish I understood why squirmy children insisting on help with their p.j's stand just out side of arms reach when I'm trying to get them into their clingy, twisted, one leg inside out pajama bottoms. I end up prostrate on the floor in front of them, like a peasant kissing the hem of the Queen's robes! Why does it not occur to me sooner that I am the parent and they are the children and if they want help they had better stand still and with in arms reach!? What happens at bed time that turns them into the dictators and I into a bobbing, curtsying servant? I'm desparate to stave off the bedtime tantrum, that's what. Oh you want a snack? a story? a milkshake and a back rub? Well sure, as long as you go to bed with a smile on your face. No crying. But even so, after bending over backwards, reading the Berestein Bears 3 times over and hugs and kisses all around the water works still burst forth. That's when mama gets mental! Don't even get me started on the way the blankets need to be arranged just so, and the 3 song medley I have to sing, and the potty parade that marches it's self through my quiet evening 10 minutes after I've let my gaurd down because I thought they were sleeping!

I know in order to change this problem I have some serious training to do. I need to establish a set routine and stick to it. I need to firmly lay ground rules and consequences (positive & negative). I know what needs to be done, I'm just not getting it done.

I need order. Not just in my bed time routine, but in my house keeping routing, my business routine, my everything routine. The trouble is there IS NO ROUTINE!!!! We're not big on planning in this family. I love planning but my plans are nearly always changed, post poned or trumped. I read with longing all the blogs about getting back into routine, back into school or work or whatever and my head swims as I look around me at the chaos that is my world. I know I should not compare my life with other people's lives, but it is very hard not to.

All that to say, I'm hoping to take the last few weeks of summer and get a grip, and maybe some order in my life. It will have to be order of the loose and flexible and constantly changing brand, but order none the less. If anyone has any great adivce for me I'm all ears. Specifically I'm looking for info on:

1. how to keep a travel trailer clean with 2 preschoolers in residence.
2. how to catch up on 3 years worth of business books in one month or less.
3. how to have an enjoyable, affordable tenting vacation while covering the maximum amout of KMs possible.
   
4. how to catch up with all our friends and relatives in an authentic and caring manner before Christmas.
5. how to secure full time work while looking after 2 preschoolers and attempting a major home reno project.
6. how to be patient, kind, gentle, never rude, never selfish, always hopeful, never judgemental, always trusting, always caring, always loving.

gee, looks like I have a lot of googling to do.