Meet Santiago. He is so cute I had to introduce him to you all.

As many of you who have been reading me for a while will know, we had to leave our beloved cat Hine behind in Ecuador. It was a heart wrenching moment when she was taken from the house. The boys literally threw themselves on the ground in despair. They didn't know how to handle the pain in their hearts at their loss.

We had said to them that when we get into our own home we would get a cat so it was time to keep our promise. The boys and I tootled off to the SPCA here in Auckland and looked at heaps of cats and kittens. We even found a boy cat that looked exactly like Hine. We had already discussed that if we were to get a cat like her then it would have to be called Dos (Two) as we really couldn't call it Hine (much to our youngests disgust). In the end we happened upon 10 week old Santiago who was up at the window checking us out. We all agreed that he was to be our cat so we paid all we needed to and brought him home. That was 2 weeks ago and he has turned out to be a real snuggly, smoochy little fellow. He has also decided he likes to climb my pot plants so I think I'll be buying a squirty bottle to train him out of that habit. We just love him. Now our home feels like a home with our newest member of the family.

Yesterday the boys started their new schools. They were both very nervous and a little scared but they did such a good job of settling quickly and I am really proud of them. I have to admit to a few tears as this was so unlike when we hit Palmerston North. There they had friends, knew the school and teachers. Here they knew nothing and no one. It's hard to watch your little ones (well not so little now) go off into the big, wide, uncertain world. I know that they will do well and we have been preparing them for months for this to happen.

Today they went off unfazed by anything (even their ugly sandals!). We even managed to find a shortcut for them to take to school. I'm letting them walk home by themsleves this afternoon so that will be nice for them. They are keen to show how grown up they are now and I guess I have to let them do that. They are truely great kids and I'm proud of them.