Schoolless

Where oh where could our little cat be?

We observed that cats become less and less fastidious with their bathroom habits as they advance in age. Whether it's forgetfulness, lack of bladder control, inability to scale the litterbox wall, or unwillingness to share it with younger cats, we've noted that when cats get to the age of 16 or 17 years, our house starts to smell like we have cats.
And we don't like it.
Our current matron cat is 17-year-old Phoebe. She has steadfastly refused to utilize the litterbox, even though we prepared a special one, just for her, in an unused bathroom on the second floor of our house, next to the room where she likes to hang out. She ostentatiously avoided any contact with the litterbox, and deposited her droppings along its outer perimeter.
Since she was so uncooperative, we decided that we would no longer bend over backwards to suit her whims, and we unceremoniously evicted her and the other cats from the top floor of the house altogether. I expanded the litterbox accommodations in the basement, and Chris installed a latching door at the top of the stairs to the second floor. We instructed the kids to keep the door latched at all times.
Naturally, the day we were leaving for vacation, someone went up to the attic for some camping gear, and forgot to latch the door. So our planned timely departure was delayed, as we frantically ran around the house looking for cats. We found the two younger ones right away. But there was no sign of Phoebe. We couldn't leave the door open while we were gone for two weeks, or we would have to re-enter the house with gas masks on. And, for obvious reasons, we couldn't close the door until we located the missing cat. 
Do your cats have their secret hiding places?
Phoebe is a master at this, and has a number of hiding spots that we have not yet discovered. We checked all the known ones upstairs: the far corner of the closet under the eaves, the depths of the drawer with the front missing in an old built-in cabinet, the old duct-hole that connects the bathroom to a walk-in closet.  We checked all the spots we knew of on the first floor too. No sign of Phoebe.
Next, we tried the basement. But where is there to hide? A utilitarian laundry room, and a large playroom full of legos, dolls and stuffed animals.
Wait... did someone say stuffed animals?...

Trouble

I have no idea how this will end...

At six months, Fido already has Freddy nibbling on his earlobes, and appears to be quite an expert with the eyeliner. And what do you think of that knowing glint in his eye?

He's trouble.

Excessive cuteness

This little fellow became the newest member of our household yesterday.

His parents are members of Acro Cats, and two more of his siblings are available for adoption. Both are pure white, with one green and one blue eye.
This guy, we think we'll call him Fido, has two blue eyes, and, contrary to what I've been told about blue-eyed white cats, he seems to be able to hear. However, he does not purr. A little weird, but very, very cute.