Sleep...?

I knew once I became a parent that many things in my life would change. From day 1, we had Emma and Henry on a schedule/routine. It was the only way that we have survived this long. When I say we, I mean all four of us, parents and kids. It was learned early on that sleep would be one of the first luxuries to go. We were lucky, the kids stuck to the schedule we put them on and we could do night time feedings for both of them at the same time and then go back to sleep. In the early days, 4 am was the hour I dreaded most. Jason can be a heavy sleeper and always missed the 4 am feedings and I would have to do it on my own. We made it threw that period and moved on to the next stage. We never had too big of a problem getting them to sleep thru the night or to follow a bedtime routine. I think during the first year, I adjusted to the lack of sleep fairly well or as best as I could. Even the transition from crib to toddler bed and then toddler bed to twin beds was not too terribly tragic for either kiddo. But I have to tell you, that all changed slowly,but surely about two to three weeks ago. We changed the bedtime routine in preparation for school in
August and bedtime has turned into a time of day that I dislike very much. I love the story time before bed when the three of us snuggle up and read a few bedtime stories. We giggle and discover new things together and that part is fun. It's what follows that isn't. There's always an excuse now why they can't go to sleep when we say it's bedtime. "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, it's too dark in our room or it's too light in our room, the dresser scares me, etc." Something that should take 20 minutes has now turned into an hour or more of taking them back to bed at the beginning of the evening. Add on top of that the middle of the night visits that we get. Emma saying that she's had a nightmare, Henry saying that he wet the bed, both saying it's too dark in their room, or my favorite(not); I'm not tired(in the middle of the night)! Every single night this week and I mean every night, I have been up with them either at 2 am or 4 am due to one of the above mentioned reasons. Most of these visits have been multiple and at least three have ended up with me sleeping on the floor in their room. Not fun. We're all cranky. I've been tough or tried to be(lack of sleep breaks me down over time) and we've tried everything we can think of to alleviate their fears. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Sleep, oh how I miss you... Please, pretty, pretty please, with sprinkles on top, come back to all of us.