We ended up meeting the people who own the house next door. They were on vacation for a couple months and then came back to the house to live in it until they rented it out. They told us that a bunch of the neighborhood kids came over and helped them catch the kittens, so all the kittens found homes. The mom is still a stray, but we found a ton of small rodents in the neighbor's back yard (she was coming back and leaving them for the kittens even though the kittens weren't around anymore - we think it was instinct), so she seems to have plenty to eat out here in the desert! We've found the mom in our front yard looking at our cats through the window a couple times. We haven't been able to catch her though. If we do, we'll take her to get spayed and then release her back into the neighborhood. I've been told that's a good method of action with strays, especially since they help to keep the rodent population down!
Anyway, I'm glad the poor kitty story had a happy ending!
