What do you get when you mix this...

and this?

Um, besides too much science learnin' going on in the backyard...

this is what you get:

This little baby, along with 4 or more others, was born on June 18th under our front porch.  They were way back in a dark corner, so we couldn't get to them.  All we could do was take a peek at them every once in awhile.

A few days later, we noticed that they were all gone except for one little baby who didn't appear to be moving.  Sure enough, it was dead.  Norman was able to take the front panel off the bottom of the porch and reach a shovel clear back under it to remove the poor little kitty.

This made us all sad, but we were hoping that the other babies were still around somewhere... and still alive.

Our youngest son soon noticed that the mother cat was going through a hole into the crawl space under our computer room.  I took a flashlight and shone it around in there, but couldn't see much since I couldn't get my head in through the hole to see back in the corners.  Yes, I know I was being a little impatient, but this was our first batch of kittens and the boys had been anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Not too long after that, I noticed a bad smell coming from the basement... and the computer room.  We finally came to the conclusion that the mother cat had lost all of her kittens.  Since she is just barely out of kitten-hood herself, we figured that she just wasn't able to care for so many babies.  Also, we were thankful that we had plans to be out of town for a couple of days since the smell was getting worse.

Things seemed to be getting back to normal soon after we returned from our trip.  But, one day our youngest son came inside all excited and announced that there was a kitten in the garage!  I went out to check and, sure enough, one little baby kitty was curled up in the soft little bed that we had made earlier for the mother cat.  We were hoping that other kitties would soon start showing up.  But after a few more days, we decided that this one must be the only one left... the survivor.

Since this whole situation seemed so touchy, we were afraid to handle the baby at all.  We would just walk into the garage and "ooh" and "aah" as we watched the kitty grow day-by-day.  Two weeks after it was born, we saw that its bright blue eyes were wide open.  We decided that it was okay to start petting the baby kitten.

The kitten began to fill out more and its markings became more distinct.  Also, it started getting curious about its surroundings.  It would tumble out of its bed and try to overcome its clumsiness to climb back in.  It was very entertaining!

The kitten was showing signs of wanting to play, so the boys made some fun things for it (since it had no brothers or sisters to tussle with).

Our youngest made a house:

And, our oldest made a play area:

Baby Kitten:  "Is this for me?  Wow!  Thanks!"

Mama Cat:  "I never had one of these when I was your age.  This is pretty cool!  Can I play, too?"

Mama Cat:  "Gotcha!!!"

Baby Kitten:  "Hey, where'd she go?"

We're thinking our baby kitty is a female, so the boys have decided to name it "Prancie".  Our youngest has a TY beanie cat named Prance, with the same markings as our kitty.  But, they thought that Prancie sounded more feminine than Prance.

Prancie will be four weeks old this Wednesday.  Today, it took its first steps out of the garage (by itself).  It was so fun to see it wander around, checking everything out.  We were afraid that something might get it if it stayed outside all night (since we have seen coons and other wild animals roaming around at night -- yes, even in town!), so we tiptoed out there just a little while ago with a flashlight and checked on it.  We were pleased to find it safe and sound, back in its soft and cozy bed in the corner of the garage.