diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 8674e9ee..5a52160f 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ Changelog
 Changes in 0.6.X
 ================
 
-- updated replicasetconnection - pop port if exists
+- refactored connection / fixed replicasetconnection
 - bug fix for unknown connection alias error message
+- Sessions support Django 1.3 and Django 1.4
 
 Changes in 0.6.3
 ================
diff --git a/mongoengine/connection.py b/mongoengine/connection.py
index 9cf8264a..96b8100d 100644
--- a/mongoengine/connection.py
+++ b/mongoengine/connection.py
@@ -39,22 +39,7 @@ def register_connection(alias, name, host='localhost', port=27017,
     """
     global _connection_settings
 
-    # Handle uri style connections
-    if "://" in host:
-        uri_dict = uri_parser.parse_uri(host)
-        if uri_dict.get('database') is None:
-            raise ConnectionError("If using URI style connection include "\
-                                  "database name in string")
-        _connection_settings[alias] = {
-            'host': host,
-            'name': uri_dict.get('database'),
-            'username': uri_dict.get('username'),
-            'password': uri_dict.get('password')
-        }
-        _connection_settings[alias].update(kwargs)
-        return
-
-    _connection_settings[alias] = {
+    conn_settings = {
         'name': name,
         'host': host,
         'port': port,
@@ -64,7 +49,22 @@ def register_connection(alias, name, host='localhost', port=27017,
         'password': password,
         'read_preference': read_preference
     }
-    _connection_settings[alias].update(kwargs)
+
+    # Handle uri style connections
+    if "://" in host:
+        uri_dict = uri_parser.parse_uri(host)
+        if uri_dict.get('database') is None:
+            raise ConnectionError("If using URI style connection include "\
+                                  "database name in string")
+        conn_settings.update({
+            'host': host,
+            'name': uri_dict.get('database'),
+            'username': uri_dict.get('username'),
+            'password': uri_dict.get('password'),
+            'read_preference': read_preference,
+        })
+
+    _connection_settings[alias] = conn_settings
 
 
 def disconnect(alias=DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME):
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/auth.py b/mongoengine/django/auth.py
index 156daf74..000e3528 100644
--- a/mongoengine/django/auth.py
+++ b/mongoengine/django/auth.py
@@ -1,11 +1,35 @@
+import datetime
+
 from mongoengine import *
 
 from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
 from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser
-from django.contrib.auth.hashers import check_password, make_password
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
-import datetime
+try:
+    from django.contrib.auth.hashers import check_password, make_password
+except ImportError:
+    """Handle older versions of Django"""
+
+    def get_hexdigest(algorithm, salt, raw_password):
+        raw_password, salt = smart_str(raw_password), smart_str(salt)
+        if algorithm == 'md5':
+            return md5_constructor(salt + raw_password).hexdigest()
+        elif algorithm == 'sha1':
+            return sha_constructor(salt + raw_password).hexdigest()
+        raise ValueError('Got unknown password algorithm type in password')
+
+    def check_password(raw_password, password):
+        algo, salt, hash = password.split('$')
+        return hash == get_hexdigest(algo, salt, raw_password)
+
+    def make_password(raw_password):
+        from random import random
+        algo = 'sha1'
+        salt = get_hexdigest(algo, str(random()), str(random()))[:5]
+        hash = get_hexdigest(algo, salt, raw_password)
+        return '%s$%s$%s' % (algo, salt, hash)
+
 
 REDIRECT_FIELD_NAME = 'next'
 
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/sessions.py b/mongoengine/django/sessions.py
index ca35962a..667cf245 100644
--- a/mongoengine/django/sessions.py
+++ b/mongoengine/django/sessions.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.sessions.backends.base import SessionBase, CreateError
 from django.core.exceptions import SuspiciousOperation
 from django.utils.encoding import force_unicode
@@ -6,18 +9,18 @@ from mongoengine.document import Document
 from mongoengine import fields
 from mongoengine.queryset import OperationError
 from mongoengine.connection import DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME
-from django.conf import settings
-from datetime import datetime
+
 
 MONGOENGINE_SESSION_DB_ALIAS = getattr(
     settings, 'MONGOENGINE_SESSION_DB_ALIAS',
     DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME)
 
+
 class MongoSession(Document):
     session_key = fields.StringField(primary_key=True, max_length=40)
     session_data = fields.StringField()
     expire_date = fields.DateTimeField()
-    
+
     meta = {'collection': 'django_session',
             'db_alias': MONGOENGINE_SESSION_DB_ALIAS,
             'allow_inheritance': False}
@@ -41,7 +44,7 @@ class SessionStore(SessionBase):
 
     def create(self):
         while True:
-            self._session_key = self._get_new_session_key()
+            self.session_key = self._get_new_session_key()
             try:
                 self.save(must_create=True)
             except CreateError:
@@ -51,9 +54,9 @@ class SessionStore(SessionBase):
             return
 
     def save(self, must_create=False):
-        if self._session_key is None:
+        if self.session_key is None:
             self.create()
-        s = MongoSession(session_key=self._session_key)
+        s = MongoSession(session_key=self.session_key)
         s.session_data = self.encode(self._get_session(no_load=must_create))
         s.expire_date = self.get_expiry_date()
         try: