As promised, the story of Frosty, Popsicle, Mittens, and Muffs.

Frosty was a feral calico who showed up on our property years ago. We tried to trap her but always failed. Then we realized that she must have kittens and stopped trying to trap her until we could locate her kittens.

One day, my dogs went crazy outside of a the dog house in my yard (dog house was left by previous owners and does not fit my dogs). I checked in there and found a kitten (grey tabby/white) freezing to death. I took him and slowly warmed him up. He was so weak he couldn't even lift his head up. I didn't think he would survive but he made it. He's probably the cutest kitten I had ever seen. When I had him checked up at the vet they got a chuckle out of my naming him Popsicle. One of my closest friends adopted Popsicle.

We then started seeing Frosty outside with her other kittens I named Mittens (black with white paws) and Muffs (fluffy grey and white). I started feeding them wet cat food under the greenhouse where they liked to hang out during the day, and they came to expect it everyday. One day I was outside to set up a shelter for them, and Frosty came out to watch me, meowed at me, and followed me around. I didn't really know what she wanted, but that was the last time I saw her.

After that, I only saw the kittens out there. It was winter and the temperatures went down to the -30s C. I was worried for the kittens who were about 10-12 weeks old. When we had a bit of a break in the weather, we decided to set up traps by the greenhouse. The kittens must have been very hungry. We caught them both and they were very scared. Muffs was pretty tame but Mittens was quite feisty and challenging. They both were very dirty and had frost bites. Muffs was eventually adopted by another friend of ours.

Mittens, being feisty and a mostly black cat, had no one interested in adopting her. So she has become our cat. She's a bit neurotic but we love her very much.

I am posting their adult pics in the comments.