There has been a feral tabby in my yard on and off for 2 years. In June she brought her 3 kittens onto my deck and in my grill cabinet right outside my sliding glass doors. A rescue helped me trap all of them, we TNR a very feral Mama and I have kept all of the babies. It took a while for me to see Mama again, but for the past month, she has been in my backyard most every morning around 7am and I go outside and feed her breakfast in a covered part of my kids old playset. She used to run from the yard under the deck when I came out, but now she'll stay 10-15 feet away from me and she talks to me the whole time. I talk back to her for a few minutes, and then when I leave she runs to the food to eat. On occasion she has been on my deck at dinner time and I have fed her by the grill, closer to my home. She looks at me and her babies (and my other cat) through the glass door. We desperately want to get her comfortable with us, especially before winter weather. I put out a large rubbermaid container with a 7 inch circle cut in it under my deck (deck is 3ft off the ground) a few weeks ago and put some tuna and dry food in it to lure her when we had days of bad storms thinking she might go in it for shelter. I have a large styrofoam cooler and I'm planning on fixing the rubbermaid for winter based on plans I have seen online for winter cat shelters. Is there a way to get her familiar with it? Is under the deck a good location for it? Any tips on gaining her trust? To complicate matters, a big fella I believe to be the daddy cat (has previously had a collar on and is long hair and well groomed so I don't think he's stray) has been on my deck at the glass door the past few nights. He comes right up to it and hisses at my cats (who don't care). We have opened the door and sprayed a water bottle at him and he runs off. But he discovered Mama's night feeding bowl. My two girl kittens are solid gray and solid black, with a dime sized bit of white on their upper chest- this guy is all black with the same white bit on his chest and deep yellow eyes. We want to help Mama. Any guidance?